Was looking at LS Models coaches. They appear rather expensive. Any reason for this and are they better than other brands.

Yes they are excellent, and so are ACME and REEThe thing is that they are extremely well detailed, inside and outBut you need to make sure that they match with the minimum radii on your layout.The Märklin KKK wont work without interference ;I use ROCO "universal" at the end of the consist and ROCO KKK elsewhereAnd always check wheel spacing. I also have a few locos from REE and LSM. All excellent details and beautiful running characteristics but more delicate than the usual Märklin

Jacques Vuye aka Dr.Eisenbahn Once a vandal, learned to be better and had great success!

I have the LS Models “Nord” set in SNCF livery from Era 3. It is a three coach set that I got in Paris two years ago at Au Pullman. They have lovely colours. The lettering is very well done. They have excellent detail. They are beautiful models. I would even say works of art. They come with differnt ends you can put on to make one the last coach. The accordeon between coaches can be one folded back. There are also brake hoses that can be applied to replicate the last coach of the train. A realistic coupling hook can be set in place of the NEM coupler.I also have a CIWL restaurant car from the same era. Again I am very impressed by the colours, the lettering, and fine details. My hope was to have all of them pulled by the Marklin SNCF 241 class I got last year.

On the negative side they are fragile. I have bits of buffers that have broken off. I have had a difficult time getting them the right couplers. I have used Rocco universals, and Marklin, though they still derail particularly on an S bend as they go through the right and left switch to the siding. Doing this, I suspect, has snapped some of the buffers. They are quite sensitive to any switch. A suggestion made in this forum was to mix Rocco and Marklin couplers, such that a Rocco couples to a Marklin. I have yet to try that mix.

Another suggestion is to change the spacing on the wheels, the axel, to conform to Marklin.The wheels seem to catch on the frogs of the switches. Changing that spacing is way beyond my skills. I have wondered about swapping the wheels out for Marklin ones. Again that is beyond my skills, and has not been recommended.

On the plus side, when I run them on R3 oval they are fine, and look superb. I just have to be careful not to try to take any switch other than strait.

You can buy AC wheelsets from LSM, Roco or ACME that will fit any LSM coach. You just have to know the appropriate wheel diameter for that model.

As far as couplings, the problem that I have noted is that the coupling shafts often do not extend far enough for the coupler to clear the buffers. I have seen in some older (MG) models that when using Maerklin 7203, Roco's close coupler or even Fleischmann's profi coupler, that two coaches cannot properly couple. The Roco universal couplers have an extra mm in the length of the plug, which means that with those couplers, the couplers extend far enough to attach to the adjacent coupler. If one extra mm is enough, then you can connect one Roco Universal Coupler with a Maerklin 7203. If you need more space, you will have to use a pair of Roco Universal Couplers.The other alternative is to use a single Roco Universal Coupler and a single Marklin loop coupler, which will also give you enough spacing to successfully couple.

I have also seen similar problems with certain coaches from Liliput (Bachmann), Heris and other brands.

I am very pleased with my LSM models. They are the nicest models out there at the moment.What I do not like is the fact that spare parts are hard to come by, especially for older models that were made by Modern Gala or are "epuise" according to LSM.

I also do not like the fact that models like the SBB UIC-X were designed with steps that have to be glued in place, while similar DB and other coaches have those parts rendered as integral to the model.

I also do not like the fact that the packaging of most older models (foam) do not allow for the models to be stored with the couplings mounted. This has been corrected on most 2017 and 2018 releases, but is problematic for all models released between 2009 and 2017. I wonder if those 30cm inlays can be ordered as spare parts?

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